Save the date. Join us for a tour of artist Jose Ramirez’s abundant food forest in City Terrace. You must RSVP to participate. We will be organizing carpools. Email transitionculvercity@gmail.com to reserve a space. More details to follow.

This month its bike culture that’s ringing our bells.

When: Saturday February 7, 2015 7 pm – 9:30 pm

Where: Sivananda Yoga Center 13325 Beach Ave Marina Del Rey 90232

Its a snack-luck….bring a snack to share 🙂

Meet cyclist-activists and bike-walk-tavists who are changing LA from a crowded isolating car town to a bi-pedal and ped-friendly village . See eco-film shorts + panel + discussion and snack-luck.

You’ll meet Nona Varnado, founder of LA Bike Trains.

This org provides curated routes run by Conductors – experienced urban cyclists – to educate new riders, harness the safety of riding in a group and kicking it up a notch by making the ride a fun social experience. Plus it’s totally free! All you need to do is submit your email, cell phone number and the route that you’re interested in. If you don’t see a route that works for you – suggest one! http://labiketrains.com/

There’s a drought , you’ve heard about it, so what better time to lose the lawn and replace it with a more sustainable garden. Join us for planting fun and community. Learn how to get rid of your lawn the Transition way…with a party!

This homeowner’s yard has been sheet mulched, so we will be digging holes and planting California natives. Bring gloves, work shoes, shovel and/or trowel, hat. Lunch will be provided.

Why build a compost pile? Well, you can extend your efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle by composting: reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill; reuse newspapers, paper napkins, coffee filters and tea bags; recycle the endless stream of veggie waste.

Tina’s got a brand new bin. Let’s help her set it up. Learn how to choose a location for a compost pile. What goes into a bin? How to maintain it? We’ll put together a compost pile and then enjoy snacks and camaraderie and swap some stories.

Bring water bottle, gloves and a shovel (with your name on it), if you have them.

Transition Culver City and Art Lee, founder of Skillbulder meet-up group are offering a Greywater Installation workshop, where you’ll learn to install a laundry-to-landscape-according-to-code conversion.

As everyone knows, water is probably the most important resource for every living species on our planet. Instead of dumping your water back to the sewer system and into the ocean, learn how to double the usage of your water and grow your fruit trees and perennials! This also saves you money by reducing your water usage.

The class will cover all the information you need to install a system at your home, to L.A. County code specifications.

A little about our instructor, Art Lee…..On his Skillbuilders meet-up site, Art provides the following description of himself:

In other parts of the country Spring might not arrive until mid-March and run through May. But Southern California is a different story!

According to popular westside arborist Pieter Severynen, spring sap flow in Southern California may start as early as mid-January, depending on the weather. Pieter advises us to prune our fruit trees either before or after the spring sap flow—but not during.

This well-timed FREE pruning demonstration (including resources — see below!) will help you build your pruning confidence and get you on track for healthier and more prolific fruit trees.

PLANNING AHEAD: Our friend Cathi Vargas from the CC Public Works Department says “Spread the Word & Save the Date!” Some FREE gardening workshops coming to town next year, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Smart Gardening Program. Everyone welcome— from beginners to the more advanced. See descriptions below. No reservations needed. Each class 1.5 hours.

For more information call PW Environmental Programs and Operations at 310/253-6411
or see the L.A. County webpage at http://www.ladpw.org/epd/sg/

WHOOPEE!
Discounted Composting Bins!
Here’s a peek at what you can order once the workshop dates get a little closer…
(AVAILABLE ONLY to Smart Gardening Workshop Attendees)
—Cash or check only, limit 2 bins per household—

Remember to reserve your spot for the upcoming 2-Day EFFECTIVE GROUPS TRAINING in L.A. This course is offered by Transition U.S. who are sending facilitator Nick Osbourne on a US tour. Nick will be passing along important skillsets (and mindsets!) to help us elegantly cross any stormy seas of group process that may arise! Valuable tools for anyone involved in working with groups.Details in a previous TCC post >>

Nick has already embarked on his tour, and word is spreading about the value of this course! Here’s a report from Amherst, Massachusetts:

I just wanted you to know that Nick ‘s Effective Collaboration training and Train the Trainer were both ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. We had MANY very skilled, seasoned trainers in the room — college professors, consultants and leaders who had studied and facilitated true consensus, sociocracy, conflict resolution, cohousing meetings, Quaker meetings, activist meetings, and different kinds of professional and business meetings for many years. Every one of us was thoroughly impressed.

We told Nick it’s as if he’s done TWO PhD dissertations and is now on his third with holocracy.

Maybe we all liked it so much because we need it so badly over here! Ha!!

Effective Groups is a 2-day skills-building training for individuals and teams. It started with Transition Town Groups in mind but this course is really for anyone involved in social change efforts. Effective Groups is a dynamic and engaging training course which covers key skills for collaboration.

It will help you:

· Create systems for teams to work effectively together

· Develop an enjoyable and fair atmosphere to work within

· Make order in the chaos to find freedom within a structure

· Utilize diverse perspectives as an advantage not a problem

· Balance achieving goals with keeping your team healthy

· Manage conflicting needs and paradoxes, within & outside of the team

· Develop the skills & mindset to cross any stormy seas of group process that arise!

Rob is an inspiring speaker, an Akosha fellow, and the subject of a widely circulated TED talk. His Transition Handbook was a worldwide bestseller, and his Transition Companion is a lovely photo-spread intro to global progress. (There are now more than 1,100 Transition groups in 43 countries—and TCC is # 37!)

Rob’s latest book The Power of Just Doing Stuff, and will be available for sale for $15/each at both the WLA and Pasadena events. More info about the book at the bottom of this post.

Locally on the Westside, you can join in for a fun afternoon at the “Just Doing Stuff” Festival in Westchester followed by a Panel Discussion in the early evening just across the street from the festival:

If you can’t make Sunday, Rob will also be in Pasadena
Monday October 14 at the “Just Doing Stuff” TALK and FAIR,
10:30am-2:00pm. Throop Unitarian Universalist Church,
300 S. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena 91101.
Tickets: $10 at the door, or pre-register with Transition US for $5 >>

Excerpt: “Something is stirring. People around the world are deciding that the well-being of their local community and its economy lies with them. They’re people like you.

They’ve had enough, and, rather than waiting for permission, they’re rolling up their sleeves, getting together with friends and neighbours, and doing something about it. Whether they start small or big, they’re finding that just doing stuff can transform their neighbourhoods and their lives.

The Power of Just Doing Stuff argues that this shift represents the seeds of a new economy – the answer to our desperate search for a new way forward – and at its heart is people deciding that change starts with them. Communities worldwide are already modelling a more local economy rooted in place, in well-being, in entrepreneurship and in creativity. And it works.” More info >>

The book will be available for purchase ($15) at the WLA “Just Doing Stuff” Festival & Panel Discussion.

Once upon a time it was tempting to mock the idea of a ‘Transition town’ or even transition itself. Rob Hopkins is a truly original thinker who has not only given that concept meaning but has put it into practice in a way that now influences individuals and communities in many parts of the world. The essential proposition is not only that we have to adapt our way of life to meet the enormous environmental challenges that we face but that it is quite possible – and no less practically to the point – a stimulating and enjoyable process as well. If ever there was an idea whose time has come, this is it. Rob Hopkins’ book is a truly unique piece of work that anyone who cares about our future in this densely populated and threatened world should read. It offers original thought and clear analysis. It also combines realism and hope.”
—Jonathan Dimbleby, UK writer and broadcaster